| Where Am I Wearing |
| Kelsey Timmerman, John Wiley, 2008, 272 pages, £16.99. |
| When I first saw the title of Kelsey Timmerman’s new book, Where Am I Wearing, I thought I was going to be made to feel outraged at the global corporations such as Nike, Gap and Primark. Their exploitation of workers in countries such as Bangladesh and Cambodia would make me look at myself and wonder how much I needed the new T-shirt I had bought just earlier this week. However, the view offered is original – we’ve all seen a few too many Panorama specials and other undercover- camera programmes revealing factory conditions. Timmerman considers the garment factories as a way that countries can develop with dignity, without the need to rely on the West. But the real charm of this book is the fact that Timmerman takes the global issue of globalisation and attempts to see what it means to people on a personal level. |
| The description of his trip to Bangladesh makes clear that people are not working in conditions that would repulse a Western consumer; however, the people who work there do have tough lives. The only options open to young men and women are working in the garment factory, street trading or begging. The first is the only employment which provides them with a steady income. The difficulty is demonstrated when Timmerman meets a family who were forced to remove their 18 year old son, Arman, from education and send him to Saudi Arabia so that he can find employment. His sister works in the local garment factory making just 10¢ per hour. In this way the factories are described as a way of surviving. What can change this? Timmerman asks many people involved in the factories whether they know of the anti-sweatshop bill, introduced in the US Senate in 1997. Almost all of them knew of it – and knew that it was possible that any further reform could cause them to lose their jobs. |
| On his trip to China, the author describes the social impact that the growth, which we in the West are so in awe of, is having. He writes that the air of Chonqing is a ‘chemical weapon’, illustrated by the fact that people spit everywhere: on trains, on the streets, even in restaurants and banks. On moving to the countryside he finds even more disturbing things. He finds grandmothers bringing up grandchildren, running the farm and the house (a wooden shed). This is because a whole generation has moved to the city to fill job vacancies. Chongqing has over 31 million inhabitants, many of whom are of working age. High growth and employment are positives, but at what cost? |
| Ultimately Timmerman concludes that there is no need to feel guilty about buying from companies who outsource from developing countries, as you are doing the workers a favour. He says that we need activists to work with companies, not against them, to try and increase the standards of living of the workers. This means providing the things which we take for granted: education, protection against injury and pensions to name a few. This is the only way that these emerging countries will develop. |
| Tom Witherow |
| Eton College |
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